Shut Down at the End of the Day?

Question

Because I can't find anywhere in the manual as to what ETC might recommend in this world. People I've worked under have told me that it is better to keep the console on and cover at the end of the day as startup/shutdown every day is not great for the electronics, and also because dust is highly unlikely to collect in a computer if the fans are running. Other places I've worked have simply taken to shutting down at the end of the day because they always did it that way. Not shutting down also has the added benefit of time functions. Is there a better practice for this or does it not matter either way?

ueliriegg · Accepted Answer

computers (and lighting consoles are just that) like to be restarted after some time to clean out stuff that has gotten stuck in memory. so shutting down once a week is what i personally would at least do. if there's an old school hard disk in play i would shut down more often. and last but not least, dust is indeed a problem. 
just like any computer i shut down my consoles every time i leave the building and the end of day.

Wuz314159 · Answer

I was always of the school of never covering equipment that is running. 
If electronics are on, they need air to keep cool. 
Putting a hat on them seems like a bad idea. 
 
The whole idea of leaving equipment run overnight seems to be the over-active imagination on the part of some people. Yes, many lamps don't like an on-off cycle, but that's the exception to the rule. 
If your electronics get hot enough that a heat/cool cycle can damage them, you have bigger issues. 
(IMHO)

Bartfly · Answer

I would only leave the console on if it was in an outside environment (at a festival) as I believe the moisture in the air affects the guts of the machine and can cause issues at boot up. 
 
(I am only going off someone else recommendation for this though) 
 
Otherwise I don't see any reason to leave the machine on, it's been working hard and could do with a break too :)